Baltic life at risk as algae grow

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135918&sectionid=3510212

A blue-green algae mass at about the size of Germany now covers huge parts of the Baltic Sea, putting the marine habitat at risk, a satellite view of the sea shows.

The huge carpet of foul-smelling algae has grown rapidly due to record summer heat, the dumping of farm fertilizers and calm sea, threatening tourism and the marine habitat in the process.

The size of the blue-green algae is so huge that it can be compared with the size of Germany. It is estimated that the weed covers an area as large as 377,000 sq km. In fact, the affected area extends from Finland to the southern coast of Sweden, surrounding the Danish island of Bornholm.

As an affected country, scientists from the German division the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature located in Hamburg are warning about the damaging effects of the algae.

"These huge algae carpets hit the marine environment most…They kill plants and encourage the spread of dead zones on the sea bed which have no oxygen left in them," WWF project spokesman Jochen Lamp said.

The foul weed often smells like rotten eggs. They are not only dangerous to the sea habitat as they deprive them off oxygen, but also are harmful to humans because they spread cynano-bacteria which can generate skin rashes as well as other allergic symptoms eventually damaging people's liver.

According to doctors, drinking water contaminated by the weed 'can cause severe diarrhea,' the Independent reported.

Considered the harshest expansion of algae in the Baltic Sea since 2005, the weed explosion has been being rapidly expanding in size.

The cause of the expansion varies from record temperatures of up to 38 C, to a lack of strong winds and also a no wave in the sea as they all help to break up algae carpets.

Experts believe that the blue-green algae is helped by over-fertilization of farmland that leads to the wash up of large quantities of phosphorous and nitrogen off the soil and later dumped into the Baltic Sea via rivers.

"Over-fertilization is the biggest environmental problem facing the Baltic; it is the driving force behind the spread of dead zones on the sea bed," Lamp said.

Germany, which had to close its many Baltic beaches in 2001, has already warned swimmers not to go into the water due to its contaminated water.

Russia renews threats of Iskander deployment

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119022&sectionid=351020602


Russia warns that it may deploy Iskander missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea if new threats emerge in Europe.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdiukov made the comment about the deployment of Iskander missiles on the Baltic Sea, after Bulgaria and Romania said they were in talks with the US on hosting elements of its missile system on their soil.

However, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry denied the reports about hosting elements of a US missile system on its soil, and added that it has never held formal negotiations with NATO about participating in the planned US missile system.

The planned deployment of US interceptor missiles in the Black Sea region has triggered fierce criticism from Moscow.

The new US missile system in Europe comes after Washington scrapped earlier plans for deploying a radar and interceptor missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland respectively.

Russia vehemently opposed those plans as well, considering them a threat to its national security. At the time Moscow had again threatened to deploy the Iskander missile system in the Kaliningrad exclave.

The Iskander missile system is equipped with two solid-propellant single-stage 9M723K1 guided missiles with "quasi-ballistic" capability. The missiles have a range of 400 km (250 miles) and can reportedly carry conventional and nuclear warheads.